Nebelhorn Trophy 2009

Better late than never. Maybe someone is still interested in reading my report about the Nebelhorn Trophy 2009. There will be more videos as soon as I have prepared and uploaded them to youtube.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

We arrived on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 in the afternoon in Oberstdorf. It was a beautiful and warm September day. First of all we went directly to the “Eislaufzentrum” to buy tickets. Instantly we met there people we know. It was so nice to see them again! After a little chat we went to our guesthous, where we met more people we know. The half guesthouse must have been occupied by people who were attending the Nebelhorn Trophy (NHT). It was a nice atmosphere there. On our way to Oberstdorf, we got to know, that unfortunately Sarah Meier withdrew from NHT because of injury. I was looking forward to see her skate, as she was already not in Helsinki.

Later when we returned to the “Eislaufzentrum”, the first person we saw at the entrance was Stéphane Lambiel with his team. He was just getting his accreditation. From our friends we knew, that you are allowed to do almost everything at NHT and that everything is so open and little, compared to big competitions. And it seemed to be! To see Stéphane again after seven months was so nice. His person always amazes me. He already got some presents but didn’t stay long there. For once he almost can’t escape the fans, as everything is so open.

A few minutes later Stéphane was already warming up in the main rink. It was interesting to watch as normally you don’t see such things. Practice group 5 was on the ice, but I couldn’t give any attention to them, not when Stéphane is around! I’m so happy that he is back! Last season I was always looking for someone else to root for, but as much as I wanted to find a new “Stéphane”, I didn’t succeed. I like many other skaters, but no one is like him. He’s just so special and different. At 4:15 pm finally the last practice group took the ice and with them Stéphane.

As there was no TV-coverage of NHT it was allowed to film. On one side it’s great that it’s allowed but on the otherhand it’s a pity that we will not have high quality records of Stéphane’s first performance in competition after one and a half year. Luckily I could lend a very good video camera to record. So I recorded as much as possible – almost everything. I had to evaluate if I want to film and look all the time on a little screen or if I want to enjoy Stéphane’s performances. I decided for the first as I know myself already, that I would regret it at home if I don’t record it.

It was so beautiful to see Stéphane skate again. I like practice’s at competitions! They are so long compared to just the 6 minutes warm-up and the programs itself. Stéphane seemed to be in very good shape! His jumps were mostly light and clean again. He even jumped 4T-3T! Only the Lutz seemed to be a problem. And as he already announced in the newspaper: he’s not doing a triple Axel at NHT. Despite our hopes to see the new short program, Stéphane skated to his “Otono Porteno”. His run-through was good but without spins. He jumped 2A, 4T-3T, 3F-3T, fell on the 3Lz, 1S. We already saw the step sequences of his new Short Program. They were even impressive without music, particularly the straight line step sequence. We were even more excited to see the new program and almost couldn’t wait until the next day!

Later in the evening, we were having dinner. It was still warm enough to eat outside. The restaurant was on the way to the “Eislaufzentrum” and so it was interesting to see skaters passing on their way to practice or back to their hotels. Stéphane with his team headed also to the “Eislaufzentrum”. After dinner there was still practice to watch and so we went back to the rink. And guess who ran across the path? Stéphane with his entourage! Oh, how I liked this village and this competition! What would have been if Switzerland already would have had a spot for the Olympic Wintergames? I don’t think we would have seen Stéphane at NHT!

Thursday, 24 September 2009

We got up early, as Stéphane was to practice at 08:20 am! We were lucky that he was in the second last starting group, as the first group had already practice at 06:00 am! Crazy schedule and poor skaters!
Again I enjoyed the practice very much. I like when random music is played and the skaters just do something, particularly Stéphane. He practiced jumps and did land a 4T-2T. Today he logically practiced his new short program. The first part is very slow but beautiful. I like his circular step sequence. Then during his first spin the music becomes faster and louder. He called it later “the wake-up call”. Then his straight line step sequence follows. It’s just incredible and funny! It’s followed by two spins. The second one is so beautiful! Somehow his spins have become faster and even more centered than before. I ddon’t know what exactly he changed. Someone mentioned that he doesn’t do the edge change anymore. So it must be it. Even without the jumps the new short program is a masterpiece! It’s a program you don’t need to see a lot of times until you like it, like e. g. “Otono Porteno”. Either you like it or you don’t like it, I think.

We watched also the last practice group and then the competition began with the compulsory dance at 09:45 am. At 10:30 am there was the daily public skating on rink II. As I had been skating only two times in my life until then, a friend offered me help and skates to go to those public skating sessions on Thursday and Sunday. It was great fun for me and I really enjoyed it! Thank you!

Public skating ended at 12:00 am. Right in time for the men short program that started at 12:15 am. It was so great to attend a competition again! European Championship in January was the last competition I attended live. I enjoyed it a lot! There were 32 men participating. Shortly after 03:00 am we then saw Stéphane’s Willhelm Tell costume for the first time. It’s beautiful and it suits him. TV cameras from German TV for Stefan Lindemann and Swiss TV for Stéphane Lambiel were getting ready. Stéphane landed 4T-3T after several attempts and also 2A and 3F but fell out of nowhere by practicing his circular step sequence shortly before warm-up ended. Stéphane was the second last in his group. During ice resufacing for the two last groups of men a friend and I were going to look for a better place to take pictures and to film, without having so many heads of other people in our sight. Behind the last row of seats was a great place as we could stand up there without disturbing anyone and nothing was in front of us.
So now that we had found a good place, I was getting nervous. Unfortunately I could enjoy this beautiful program only on the little camera screen. His 2A at the beginning was light and beautiful. Then the planned combination ended with a fall at the 4T. The 3F was clean again. Then after the jumps the program really startet with the slow but beautiful circular step sequence and then the already mentioned spin with the “wake-up call” followed. His straight line step sequence then was a pure joy to watch and the last spin seemed to be out of this world! With this funny Wilhelm Tell program he was the highlight of the men short program. Stéphane got 77.45 points for his short program and was in first place. Behind the kiss’n'cry area all media was waiting for Stéphane. He had to answer many questions and gave interviews to Swiss German TV and Swiss French TV.

15 minutes after the men short program the draw for the long program took place. Luckily it was accessible also for people without accreditation. Stéphane was lucky and was going to skate second last.

Men short program was followed by the pairs short program. There 18 pairs participated. Amongst them the Swiss pair Anaïs Morand & Antoine Dorsaz. They already made a huge progress last season since they began to train in Germany with Ingo Steuer. I was excited to see them again and curios to see what progress they made during the summer. It was interesting to see that first Swiss Olympic didn’t make any criteria for pair skaters to participate in Vancouver. Then during summer they added those as it seemed really realistic after the good results at Euros (12)  and Worlds (14)  that they could reach them. The criteria for Swiss athletes are very though, as Swiss Olympic decided to send only athletes who could place in top ten.
Their short program to “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen was perfect! And with 51.32 points they achieved a new personal best. I was so happy for them! And I think the audience liked it too according to the applause they got. The highlight was the perfect clean program of Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy to “Send in the Clowns” by Danny Wright. Logically they placed first after the short program. Anaïs Morand & Antoine Dorsaz were currently in fifth place.

We didn’t watch the original dance then. If you wanted you could have watched skating from 06:00 am until 23:15 pm! That’s even crazier than at Euros or Worlds. So we have had enough skating for that day and wanted to eat something. But in Oberstorf during midseason it’s sounds easier than it was. At 09:00 pm it was almost not possible to find a restaurant who still serves food! Incredible! We were walking through the village for a long time without knowing where we were when we finally found a nice restaurant. The food was great and we were having a good time there. It was already late when we paid and we were tired after this long day. The thought now to walk back to our guesthouse was not very appealing. But the best thing came when we left the restaurant and one of us cried: Isn’t that our guesthouse? She was right! It was about 50 metres from the restaurant we ate! We must have been really tired that day! But after that we even didn’t go to bed instead we surfed in the internet and watched videos and pictures in the breakfast room. Luckily nobody complained about the noise we made.

Friday, 25 September 2009

Friday started much later than Thursday. We skipped the ladies short program, with the thought that we could watch most of these ladies again at Euros in Tallinn. We were at the rink at about 01:00 pm as Stéphane was to practice at 01.10 pm. The morning we spend with sleeping, having breakfast and surfing. Before practice started we went to the main rink to reserve seats in the last row, so that we could stand up for filming and taking pictures. Stéphane was warmin-up in the corner of the pracitce rink. He practiced all the jumps, but they were not very good. He did on 4T with hand down, one 4T-2T and 3F-3T. His run through was without jumps but with 2 spins. After half an hour he left the ice.

At 13.50 pm men free skating begann. The competiton was extremely long as not only the 24 best could show their free skate, no, all 32 men skated theirs! Five hours after the competition began, finally the last warm-up group took the ice. I was getting nervous again! Not because I feared that Stéphane could loose this competition, it could have been, but I was so excited just to see him back in competition again. It was like a dream came true after his retirement. His “Otono Porteno” was great! Today he landed 4t-2T-2T! And also 3F-3T. Only the Lutz was singled. He wouldn’t win Euros or Worlds with jumps like that, but for this competition it was more than enough! The step secquences and spins were again so beautiful! But I must admit, that I liked “Otono Porteno” as an exhibition program more than now in competiton. First I didn’t like it very much because fo the music and in Art on Ice in Zürich there was also Antonio Najarro in the middle of the ice dancing- really disturbing. But then I saw the program again at Eisgala Davos without Antonio Najarro and I really liked it since then. But now there is some choreography missing. It’s not the same anymore with all the jumps. Stéphane got 154.91 points for his long program. He won the competition with 26 points ahead of Ivan Tretiakov, who was second. Michal Brezina placed third.

Few minutes after the men free skate finished, there was the men press conference. Again we could just stand there and listen. It was interesting. Almost every question was for Stéphane. Poor other skaters! They almost couldn’t say anything. Stéphane had to leave the press conference earlier because he had to go to the doping test. It was funny, there was this doping-test-observing-guy just in front of me who was observing Stéphane all the time since competition ended. Salome Brunner, Majda Scharl and Marc Lindegger were also just in front of me. This observing-guy nearly went crazy because he had to see Stéphane all the time and there were so many people standing around. He nervously asked Marc Lindegger where Stéphane will walk through to go to the doping test. During those probably 15 minutes of the press conference Stéphane drunk 1.5 liter water! It was fun to watch! After Stéphane went nobody wanted to ask more questions to the other two guys!

We were very hungry and decided to skip some of the pairs and go eating. As it was much earlier than the day before, it was easier to find a restaurant. We ate as fast as possible because we didn’t feel well in the restaurant between all the drunken and singing bavarian men. Glad to be back in the main rink the pairs free skate was just at a break because of ice resurfacing. I like watching pairs. It’s my favourite discipline after the men, even if I don’t understand anything about it. It’s just beautiful to watch. I was already excited for Anaïs & Antoine! Their free skate was the best they ever skated and they got 100.17 points for it! Their reaction after the music ended was so cute! It was again a new personal best. Aliona Savchenko’s & Robin Szolkowy’s new free skate was not very good. They made quite a few mistakes and Ingo Steuer admitted later in an interview, that it was the first time he had seen the whole free skate skated in one piece. But I think that nobody was really worried, as it was so early in the season. Even with those mistakes Aliona & Robin placed first with a total of 185.99 points. Second were Tatiana Volosozhar & Stanislav Morozov with 165.75 points and third with 155.61 points were Anabelle Langlois & Cody Hay. Anaïs & Antoine placed fith with 151.49 points. What great result for them! I was so happy!

It was already late at night when we left the “Eislaufzentrum” for that day. We were having a drink in a restaurant and then went back to the guesthouse, where we again were entertaining the whole building with loud laughter. But nobody complaint.

Saturday, 26 September 2009

We had again a late start in the day. Luckily! We skipped tha ladies free skate and went to the rink just in time for the men exhibition practice at 12.45 pm. Stéphane didn’t do much. His “Ne me quitte pas” was played very soon. It was the first time I saw it live! The program is impressive in the videos but seeing it live, it was even more impressive! And it was “only” practice! A few minutes later Stéphane left the ice.
Then many fans began to wait in front of the locker room for Stéphane. He than came and got many presents and took pictures with fans. For once he was just standing there, looking at the presents without hurrying away. It was so nice! After this “fan meeting” he gave many interviews for the next few hours. We then went to the main rink and saw the two last ladies skate. After that we occupied seats for the free dance and exhibiton later and went to the restaurant in the first floor to eat something. Guess who was there also? Stéphane, his team and Oliver Höner with his family!
Later we went to watch the end of the free dance.

The victory ceremony took place earlier than scheduled. So that unfortunately Anabelle Langlois & Cody Hay missed the ceremony because nobody could tell them that it was postponed. It was a long ceremony with three times the american anthem!

At 07.30 pm the exhibition began. For the first time during Nebelhorn Trophy every place was occupied. We were lucky to have reserved our place before! The exhibition was one of the most beautiful I have seen until now. It was just a good mix with different styles of music. There were some slow pieces and also some very fast and rhythmic pieces. It made it nice to watch without almost falling asleep. The highlight for me was logically Stéphane Lambiel’s “Ne me quitte pas”. For once I had decided not to record it, as a friend of mine promised to record it. So I could just watch and enjoy it! This program has a huge impact to the audience that everyone kept silent until the end. Stéphane got standing ovations. His encore was a part of his short program “Wilhelm Tell” and the crowd exploded at the end after his last spin! A few minutes later the exhibiton and with it also the Nebelhorn Trophy was over! The time went so fast and we almost couldn’t believe it that it was already over! It was a nice competition in a beautiful place!
As we were again hungry, we went to the restaurant above the ice rink in the first floor and had great fun there.
The next day some of us went again to the public skating session and in the afternoon we left Oberstdorf to return to Switzerland!

Season is over…

… and I have never posted something! I’m sorry! I have written a very long report about Nebelhorn Trophy before Euros in Tallinn, but I didn’t have the time to add some pictures etc. until now as there was so much going on. It was almost too much to keep up. As I wrote in my previous post, I’ve been travelling to Nebelhorn Trophy, Trophée Eric Bompard, Swiss Nationals, World’s Best on Ice, Euros, Art on Ice and Worlds. I can’t believe time went so fast and the season is already over – and with it Stéphane’s competitons. This time I really believe he won’t return to competitions. But let’s see, he sometimes changes his mind so quickly!

During all the travelling there were almost too many emotions and impressions and I’m still processing them. After Nebelhorn Trophy we thought that it couldn’t get any better. We were wrong! Some experiences at Swiss Nationals we will never ever forget and then five weeks later we were already in the cold of Tallinn and I also won’t forget this special Thursday evening! The joy after the results came up! I cried and laughed at the same time! I don’t have words to describe what I felt (especially not in English)! And I still think, if he only didn’t fall in the step sequence!

After Tallinn was no time to digest the emotions of this event and to watch all the videos I’ve recorded, downloaded or filmed because Olympics were finally there two and a half weeks later! After all this time of waiting it was kind of unreal and too soon for me… That sounds really awkward. But I would have wanted a little more time between all these magnificent experiences… You really can get exhausted as a fan, as funny as it sounds!

The two weeks of watching Vancouver Olympics were incredible! The day before the opening ceremony I was in my best mood, when at 10:00 it was announced on the radio that Stéphane will be the flag bearer! I was so hoping for this and when it was announced my workmate cried: Did you hear it? My whole office knows that I’m a big fan of Stéphane and they probably think that I’m a bit crazy. But I can’t help…
This great mood stayed until Tuesday night. And also after the short program I still believed, that Stéphane can make it and win gold. Then Thursday night came and I was feeling like in a bad dream after Traviata! He so wasn’t himself there! Ohhhh, so sad!  During Daisuke’s free skate I became angrier and angrier the more jumps he successfully landed. Sorry Daisuke! I really liked his program, he was so into it. But that was a Daisuke we havn’t seen for a long time! I so expected that he would bomb and Stéphane could still get bronze. When Daisuke’s score came up, it was a relief at first sight, but as the free skate is only one part of the competition… Before I could calculate, the total score came up and there he was – in second place… And then the shock: half a point more than Stéphane! Ohhhh! This must be a bad dream! But it wasn’t. I felt so sad for Stéphane! 0.51 points! I was looking through the protocols later and blaming so many of the judges. Look at Plushenko’s strange jumps and he got almost at every jump + GOE! Why was Stéphane judged so much harder with his jumps? And what with this edge warning? This 0.51 points could be everywhere! But I must admit, that Daisuke was better than Stéphane in Vancouver and it would not have been right, if Daisuke would have been off the podium. It’s just sad that Stéphane was off the podium by so little. I don’t like Evan and Plushenko but it was so incredible to see Evan winning over Plushenko! I’m still convinced that Stéphane would have won, if all the top skaters including him would have skated two clean programs – also without the triple axel.

I had the hope that Vancouver is not Stéphane’s last competition and that he will show up at Worlds in Torino. But all my hope died a few days later, with his announcement not to go to Torino. I still had the Euros in Bern in my mind then and thought that he might take part there. But with the announcement of this “Thin Ice” competition I began to worry about Stéphane’s eligibility as it was clearly written, that it would be a pro-competition. So finally Bern died too… I did so hope that Bern won’t die to soon… But it shouldn’t have been. And as it seems also taking part in the gala in Bern is not possible any more. I still don’t think “Thin Ice” was it worth to lose the eligibility. But he seems to be very happy and satisfied now – and this is the most important thing!

Art on Ice was again a great show and “In your Eyes” with Anastacia and Stéphane was to melt for!

I enjoyed Worlds in Torino! It was so relaxing and not-nerve-racking after Euros and Olympics. We saw great (and not so great) skating. And I was so happy for Daisuke! His free programm was incredible!
I went for a walk through the old olympic village! Four years have passed and some houses are not in a very good condition anymore. It was sad to see this. I think I could figure out which house the Swiss house was. It seems to be empty and the paint is peeling off. Somehow I could still feel the “Olympic Spirit” there. Directly by the olympic village there is this famous walkway over the rails to the shopping centre with this red arc. Stéphane mentioned in one interview at NHT that he was standing on this walkway hours before his free program, just crying because of the pressure. I didn’t cry when I was walking over this walkway, but I felt a little sentimental and wished once again, that I would have been in Torino then.

When I got started with this report, I intended to write only a few sentences…
I will post my report about Nebelhorn Trophy as soon as possible. And then maybe write something about Swiss Nationals and/or Tallinn.

The new season is starting…

It’s time to write again as the new season in figure skating is starting! I’m so excited! In 10 days  I will be in Oberstdorf to watch the Nebelhorn Trophy. I planned to go there a long time ago. It was probably in March or so, when I decided to go there, because it’s the last opportunity for a country to get a spot for the Olympic Wintergames in Vancouver next February. Back then I was still sad about Stéphane Lambiel’s retirement, but was almost living with the fact that he will not compete anymore. When the Grand Prix assignements were published in June, I decided also to go to the Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris in October. And I’m also going to watch the World Championships in Torino.

When I was finally accepting, that we will not see Stéphane in competitions again, the 25th July came and he retired from his retirement. That was a real happy day! It was not a total surprise, as there were different signs. But it’s still like a dream! My planning for the season was now totally mixed-up. What about Vancouver? I wanted to go there but with his retirement it wasn’t worth it. And what about European Championships in Tallinn? I didn’t plan to go there, but in the press release was written that Stéphane wants to compete there. It’s impossible to sit at home and watch it in TV! So the season planning started again. For Vancouver it was to late. I think, if I really want to be there, it would still be possible to get tickets for the Men SP and FS. I just saw on the travel agent’s website that those two competitions are still not sold out. But it would cost a fortune! And it’s complicated to plan everything: the flight, accommodation and the tickets. And it’s also a little bit silly and crazy to use a big part of my holidays in the first three months of the year and only for attending skating competitions. So I finally gave up that dream and decided to watch it in TV (please Swiss TV this is an important competition, it has to be aired live!).

So my season planning until now is:

• Nebelhorn Trophy, Oberstdorf
• Trophée Eric Bompard, Paris
• (Swiss Championships, Lugano) – not sure
• Eisgala Basel (World’s Best on Ice), Basel
• European Championships, Tallinn
• Art on Ice, Zürich
• World Championships, Torino

I’m looking forward to the coming months! I only hope that Stéphane will meet his own expectations and that his injury doesn’t hurt too much. He said: I want Gold (in Vancouver)!  It’s logical that he aims the gold medal in Vancouver, as he has already a silver medal. It will be difficult, but not impossible. But first he has to get the spot for Switzerland at the Nebelhorn Trophy. I’m so excited and nervous! I’m crazy, I know…

Full of emotions and impressions

A wonderful exciting time is behind me. Since the beginning of the year, I was travelling a lot. I have been at European Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, then at Art on Ice in Zürich and a week later at Eisgala Davos. My head is still full of impressions and emotions. 

European Figure Skating Championships Helsinki
In Helsinki I had a wonderful time. It was nice to meet so many people there and to watch the competition. But I cannot tell, how much I missed Stéphane Lambiel there. The competitions are not the same without him. I enjoyed it, but there was not the same excitement in the whole week like I experienced in Göteborg last March. I just had nobody to really cheer for… I supported the whole Swiss team and some other skaters, but it was just not the same. The highlights were Samuel Contesti’s silver medal, the bronze medal for Sinead & John Kerr and the gold for Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy.

Jamal Othman

Sinead & John Kerr

The Hartwall Arena was cold inside and so the staff at every entry. They were really strict – no food, no beverage and no video. I understand the “no video” rule because of copyright reasons but no food and no beverage, that was hard… Oh, I remebered Göteborg, they were so generous there with almost everything in the Scandinavium… But this is not topic of this post.

Like expected Switzerland lost it’s two spots in Ladies and in Men’s category. I was happy for Jamal Othman that he stepped up from 20th to 12th place. And also the senior debut of our pair skaters Anaïs Morand & Antoine Dorsaz was respectable. They placed also 12th. I’m proud of them as they are also like Stéphane Lambiel and me from the Wallis/Valais!

Anaïs Morand & Antoine Dorsaz

Something about the weather in Helsinki: I have never seen the sun, nor the blue sky! It was quite depressing for me, as I am so used to blue sky. It was dark until something before 9:00 am and it was dark again at 4:00 pm. I think, I wouldn’t survive in this city in winter.
 

Art on Ice
The tickets for Art on Ice on Saturday afternoon have been in my possession for  one year already. Like the two years before, I was sitting in the first row, not far away from the skater’s entrance. What I didn’t know at the time of  order, that I have to wait such a long time to see Stéphane skate again live. So on this Saturday morning eight people including me (family and friends) made this train ride from Brig to Zürich to watch Art on Ice. For me it has become a tradition to go to Zürich to watch Art on Ice. It’s a nice tradition and I already have tickets for next year – of course in the first row!

Sarah Meier – Next Plane Home

Stéphane Lambiel – Otono Porteno

The show itself was great. It was even more spectacular than last year. Stéphane’s first performance was his planned long program for this season “Otono Porteno” by Astor Piazzolla.  Unfortunately Antonio Najarro was there too – on a stage in the middle of the ice. Really disturbing. During Antonio’s performance, Stéphane was waiting in the dark not far from me. He seemed to be very nervous. But his tango was flawless. Every jump was clean and they were triples, not doubles, except the axel. I was very impressed and touched! In his shows in December and in January he always struggled with the jumps. And now they were perfect! Unfortunately I was not sitting on the “judges side”, so with Antonio in the middle of the ice – obstructing a big part of my view – I could not see a big part of Stéphane’s choreography. But, and this is very important, I could see the sparkle in his eyes! They were shining (is this the right word?) again. After almost two years his eyes were finally shining again! It was no comparison to how he looked in Göteborg! It wasn’t even like this at GPF in Torino when I met him by chance in a restaurant after winning the gold medal. I was so happy to see this.

Stéphane Lambiel – Freak like me

Stéphane Lambiel – Finale

In the second part of the show the Sugababes appeared and time passed by like nothing. Like before, Stéphane was the last one to skate. He skated to “Freak like me” with the Sugababes. It’s a very funny and crazy program, but I enjoyed it. During the last song, I had the opportunity to clap Stéphane’s and all the other hands two times!

After the show I met many people of Stéphane’s message board. It was nice to see some again and some for the first time. It’s so great to meet people who think and feel the same. Thanks to a really nice person, I had the opportunity to watch the evening show as well! For the first time I was not sitting in the first row. It was interesting to see the whole show in a different perspective than in the afternoon – and from the “judges side”! Unfortunately Stéphane’s jumps weren’t as good as in the afternoon. When I remember right, he fell two times and stumbled also. But it didn’t matter, the audience still loved him. And this time in “Freak like me” I even noticed the strange video clip with Stéphane on the screens.

All in all the traditional trip to Zürich was really worth it! And I’m sad that it’s already over.
 

Eisgala Davos
Back in October 2008, on this dark day shortly after eleven in the morning, a friend of mine began to plan a trip to “Eisgala Davos”, as it was the only opportunity to see Stéphane skate in Switzerland beside Art on Ice. Davos is at the end of the world for me. It’s a five hours trip by train – it took me almost the same time from Brig to Paris last November. If only those mountains would not be there… But Switzerland wouldn’t be the same beautiful country without it’s mountains.
So we survived the extremely crowded trains with Sushi, Starbucks Coffee and Luxemburgerli and were in Davos when it was almost dark already. The Vaillant Arena is a really beautiful Arena with all this wood and it’s special architecture. Our places were in first row again, almost in the middle and very important: on the “judges side”! There was no border between the first row and the ice! Wow!  The ice felt so much nearer than in Art on Ice, even if it was about the same distance, but this absence of any border made the difference! The first an the second row are indeed special as they are already above the ice. It’s the same in Zürich at Art on Ice, but in Zürich you don’t get a blanket, which can be taken home after the show.

Vaillant Arena Davos

The theme of the show was “American Dream”. So we supposed, that Stéphane will probably skate his tango “Otono Porteno” and a new program, as we already knew, that he will not skate to “Summertime”, because it’s too short. “Duo Edelmais”, two well known comedians in Switzerland were commenting the show. It was so funny! Poor people who could not understand Swiss German!
Before the break it was Stéphane’s turn to show us another great tango – without Antonio, with clean jumps, from the “judges side”, with very sparkling eyes and happy expression on his face and also as passionate as I have never seen him before in a live performance. It was just amazing to watch and I couldn’t stop smiling. This was the Stéphane we have missed! It was the first time, I really realized that he is happy now, without this pressure anymore and this sad expression in his eyes, even when he was smiling. It’s like you can really look into him, without knowing him. But isn’t he saying, that he is naked on the ice? So true! He was so happy there!

Stéphane Lambiel – Otono Porteno

The show itself was great, even without live music it almost topped Art on Ice. The atmosphere was quite different, more familiar. Again the last one to skate was Stéphane, with a new program “Tainted Love” by Paul Young. I don’t like this kind of music, but it was a great program. So light but still expressive. The highlight was, when he stopped exactly in front of us and stood ther for a few seconds. He was so near, we could almost touch him! Awww…
Too soon it was over. At the entrance where all the skaters were picked up by cars, we waited for Stéphane. Like ever he was the last on to come. Everybody who brought him a gift, got three kisses on the cheeks.

Stéphane Lambiel – Meet & Greet

Stéphane Lambiel – Meet & Greet

The evening was still not over. With our tickets we could go to the “Meet & Greet” in the Hotel “Steigenberger Belvedere”. Around midnight Stéphane appeared there too. He was instantly sourrounded by many people. He gave autographs and took pictures for a few minutes. It was interesting to observe: every other skater could walk around and almost nobody noticed them – but not Stéphane. He seems to be magnetic in every place he appears. I was too late to take a picture with him. I already have one from GPF in Torino. I’m happy to have it, but I’m not so happy with it, as I’m standing one step lower than him and there is also another person on the picture. But he disappeared in a room were all the skaters had their dinner – it was not possible to enter that room for us.
But with patience and a bit stalking, I finally got that picture with Stéphane at 2:00 in the morning when he was leaving.

It was a wonderful time in Zürich and in Davos. But now it’s over and I don’t know when I will see Stéphane skate again. I hope it will be before Art on Ice 2010 in March next year.
 

Speculations
Since last week many Swiss newspaper are speculating about a possible comeback at Worlds or the latest in Vancouver for the Olympic Winter Games next year. That would be great, but Stéphane’s management already denied his comeback for Worlds. But nobody is excluding it, that he might comeback sometime. Nobody knows. There was a really interesting article in NZZ with some very interesting points. For example that Stéphane never unsubscriebed from anti doping tests or that the ISU asked Peter Grütter to influence Stéphane to make a comeback. Does the ISU do such things? That would be interesting… 

I would be happy if Stéphane decides to comeback, but I don’t know if it would be good for him. He seemed so happy at Art on Ice and Eisgala Davos, it’s hard to imagine that he would stay so happy, when he begins to compete again. And also for his health it might be better to do just shows. It would be a marvelous day for me, if he should really announce his comeback, but what about him? The selfish part in me wants him to comeback but what when he doesn’t meet the expectations of the public? Or even worse, his own expactations? That would be sad.

All those articles make me think again about buying tickets for Vancouver 2010… I intended to go until last October. I couldn’t forgive myself, if he should be there and I have no tickets! I already missed Torino 2006 and I’m still so sad about this. Olympic Winter Games 3.5 hours away from my home and I was not there! But back in 2006, I wasn’t really interested in figure skating. And on 16 February 2006 I “discovered” Stéphane Lambiel, although I knew his name and a little bit more before. It’s 3 years already…

Update

Time is passing fast and christmas is coming in a few days. In the beginning of November I became godmother and aunt of Jamie Noah. He is such a cute little baby boy and I’m happy and proud. 

Like planned in summer, I went to watch the Figure Skating Grand Prix Trophee Eric Bompard (TEB) in Paris. Altough Stéphane Lambiel wasn’t there it was a nice and exciting competition. But it’s not the same without him anymore. In the men’s field my favourite skater was Takahiko Kozuka. I saw him already in Göteborg but he was just one of many there. But I like his skating style and I hope he will be able to land his 4T successful in the near future. I prefer him to other Japanese skaters like Daisuke Takahashi or Nobunari Oda.
I also enjoyed Alban Preaubert and I still wonder about that. Until this season his programs were a little too crazy for me but now his style is different and more enjoyable. Patrick Chan is also a very good skater but I’m still not over the fact, that he copied Stéphane Lambiels Vivaldi LP last season.
I never liked Brian Joubert and this will not change in the near future. His skating is not bad but he is so calculating in every competition and for him only the technical elements are important. He almost lost to Takahashi at Worlds 2007 in Tokyo because he played it safe and removed almost all difficulties out of his LP. But on the other hand he is bashing skaters like Jeffery Buttle for winning a worlds title without quadruple jump. And his comment to Stéphane Lambiels retirement is a bit over the top. He said Stéphane retired because he did too many shows and couldn’t so really focus on his skating. Brian forgets that in Switzerland there is no federation which pays top athletes like in France and many other countries. So Stéphane was probably forced to do some shows to afford his expenses. And in my opinion Stéphane needed those shows to motivate himself. But that’s enough about this topic for now. I was glad to see Alban Preaubert on the podium whereas Brian Joubert was off the podium. I’m not nice, I know. Sorry, if a Brian Joubert fan reads this.
In ladies competition I enjoyed Joannie Rochette and I was glad she won. Also my favourite pair and dance couple won. It was worth it to travel to Paris even without Stéphane Lambiel. It was fun to meet new people and some again.

I planned to go for the first time to Swiss Nationals from 4. – 6. December. But as I was sick  and I still not feel really healthy I’m staying at home. I don’t regret it much because of Switzerland’s “top skaters” only Jamal Othman will participate. Sarah Meier and Moris Pfeifhofer are both injured. So the new Swiss Champion will be to 99% Jamal Othman. And I’m happy for him as he was always standing in the shadow of Stéphane. But without Stéphane there is now a huge gap in men’s skating in Switzerland as nobody comes near to his level. The ladies field is more open. The gap between Sarah Meier and all the others is even bigger than the one between Stéphane and Jamal/Moris. I only regret that I now will not see our only pair Anais Morand/Antoine Dorsaz. But I think there will be many more possibilities to see them.

The Credit Suisse Sport Awards will take place tomorrow evening in Basel. They nominated 10 sportsmen for the titel “Swiss Sportsmen of the year 2008″ Stéphane Lambiel is one of them. Until this year only 3 people were nominated to win this titel. But they changed the rules. Otherwise Stéphane would not be nominated I think. It will be very difficult to win this titel as there are other very popular sportsmen like Fabian Cancellara or Roger Federer. Sad but probably true that a successful sportsmen as Stéphane Lambiel was, never wins a title like this. Is it because he is a figure skater? Or because he is from the French speaking part of Switzerland? Probably both and bad luck.
In 2005 Tom Lüthi (World Champion in motorcycling 125cc in 2005) won the titel, before Roger Federer and Stéphane Lambiel. There was a real hype in Switzerland about Tom Lüthi and so it was possible for him to win that titel, leaving Roger Federer in one of his best years, behind him. But Tom Lüthi is from the German speaking part and he is not a figure skater. After 2005 Tom Lühti’s success went downhill and he could only win one more race, but this fact does not stop Swiss TV to show every race live on TV.
In 2006 Stéphane Lambiel was nominated again with Roger Federer and Fabian Cancellara. Roger Federer had another very successful year behind him and it was also the most successful season of Stéphane Lambiel. He won the olympic silver medal, was World Champion again, won the Grand Prix Final and won also the silver medal at European Championships. But the Swiss decided and gave the title to Roger Federer, with Stéphane in second place. It wouldn’t matter to me, if they hadn’t given the title the year before to Tom Lüthi. It’s not logical. Roger Federer is the most successful sportsman Switzerland ever had, but in 2005 the hype about Tom Lüthi let the Swiss vote for this young guy and not Roger Federer! Just incredible.
So this year is the last chance for Stéphane Lambiel to win this titel. It was not his best year but he won a second time the Grand Prix Final, was again the silver medalist at European Championships and was fifth at World Championships. He deserves this titel for his successful career, not only for this season. Federer already won this titel four times and Cancellara and many others have not retired an can win another year. Even with this little chance to win, I still hope, Switzerland will vote for Stéphane. We will see tomorrow.

So much to write…

Where to begin? The last week was crazy! If someone would have told me a week ago, that Stéphane Lambiel will announce his retirement on Thursday, I wouldn’t have believed it. But now it is as it is. It’s going to be a very long ans selfish entry. Maybe someone reads it until the end? Feel free to comment. Thank you!

The week began already on Sunday for me because I had to work as there was the election for our city’s government. The election was a surprise for everybody because a new party had the second best result and gained two seats out of seven. This was only because a very popular man decided to switch the party a few weeks ago, as his aim is to be the mayor of the city. His old party is the most popular party in our region and also our current mayor belongs to it. So there is a head to head election campaign now who’s going to be the new mayor. The current one or the rival? I hope it will be the current one – Viola Amherd –  and nobody else. I think she did a great job so far.

Monday came and nothing special happened. Months ago I set a goal to learn to identify the different jumps in figure skating. As the figure skating season is approaching I printed out some protocols of former championships and intended to watch DVD’s and guess the jumps.

Tuesday came and until noon nothing happend. But when I checked the news on the web during lunchtime, there was an announcement of an extraordinary press conference with Stéphane Lambiel on Thursday 11 o’clock, in which he will speak about a change in his career. My very first thought was indeed “retirement”, but I put this thought out of my brain immediately and thought about other things, he could tell us. But an extraordinary press conference is something special and I was already concerned. I told my mother about this press conference and the first thing she said: “So, then he is going to retire.”
Normally at work I’m rarely on the internet for private things, but this afternoon I was looking for more infos. There were some articles on different pages, speculating about a possible retirement of Stéphane Lambiel. This announcement really bothered me. It meant something when already the swiss media was speaking about it. But I still had the hope, that it would only be about missing the Grand Prix serie. Not long after he was replaced on the list of Grand Prix entries. So it was clear that this press conference won’t be about the Grand Prix, because he was already out of it.
In a bad mood I went home. Exactly on this day my father brought me home the HD video camera, which I intended to use at TEB in a few weeks. I told him, that maybe I won’t need it now and escaped in my room.

Wednesday came and all I had to do was waiting and waiting. Surely I was working on that day too, but my minds were often somewhere else and I wasn’t hungry at all. 

Thursday came and I was almost counting the minutes to that particular time: 11 o’clock. How long will it take until the news are published? It took not as many as I expected. At 11.17 I read the shocking news, that I already expected. Why I had to be right? Normally I like being right, but not today. I went home for having lunch although I wasn’t really hungry. Back in the office the afternoon, my workmates probably thought that I’m crazy. They know I like figure skating and Stéphane Lambiel, but they didn’t know that I like him this much.
The afternoon passed and I spend the evening watching the news on TV, reading many articles and visiting different skating forums. I realized how much beloved Stéphane was everywhere, not only in skating forums. Many articles expressed that he will be missed. He is the best figure skater Switzerland ever had and probably also one of the best in the wold. Although he’s from the French speaking part of Switzerland, he is very appreciated also in the German speaking part of our country. That’s not usual and it means a lot. I would say that he is after Roger Federer the best Swiss sportsmen at the moment.

Friday: There are so many new articles about Stéphane’s retirement. I spend hours reading them. In many articles it’s written more or less the same, but there are some special articles, which say a bit more or tell more details. I will post links to the most interesting articles in another post.

Saturday: Weekend! There were still new articles. I spend some time in the golden and still almost hot October sun on a bench in front of our house. My sister suggested to go eating out in a Mexican restaurant called “Papas”. The funny or maybe strange thing about this restaurant is: The last time (and also the first time) I was in that restaurant was no other day than 16. February 2006. I mean it was exactly that day I “discovered” Stéphane Lambiel.
Surely I knew him before and was proud on him because he is also from Valais, but I didn’t follow his career closely. It was the day he won the silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Torino. I had seen his short program two days ago and was a little sorry to be away on the evening of the free skating. The screen in the restaurant showed figure skating on Eurosport. Happily I was home before 10.00 pm and so I had the chance to watch Stéphane Lambiels free skate live.
I understood nothing about figure skating. I even didn’t know how much programs they have to skate before they can get a medal. Shame on me, I know. All I knew were some names of Stéphane’s rivals and the time he is going to skate, because it was written on a whole page in our daily newspaper “Walliserbote”. And I knew about his injury too. I was holding my breath during his free skate. Probably I have never been that nervous before for a sportsmen.
But what had impressed me the most, were his tears on the podium. During the Russian anthem he was sobbing and crying. It’s a picture that went around the world. I was so touched by his emotions. It was like something very important happened in my life. I had troubles at work and wasn’t happy at all. But this particular moment had changed something. I cannot explain it. I think it was the next day, when I was searching information on the web about Stéphane Lambiel. Soon I found his message board on Absolute Skating and there were people from all over the world, who were feeling exactly like me. So this story began.
And now back to the Mexican restaurant: it was like a circle has closed when I went there on Saturday. I don’t know what do think about it. Was it a pure chance to be there just two days after the announcement of retirement? Shall I turn this page of the book too, like Stéphane explained it? But it is not that easy for me to forget him or not to be sad anymore, as he is such a special person.

Altough the two days from the announcement of the press conference until the press conference were very long and hard to wait, I’m thankful there was an open announcement. I could not imagine the shock I would have had on Thursday without knowing about something before.

So what I’m thinking about his retirement? First of all: I’m really sad. For the first time in my life I was looking forward to winter, because of my planned trips to TEB in Paris, Swiss Championships in La-Chaux-de-Fonds  and Euros in Helsinki. And also because the season is going to start. It promised to be very exciting. When Jeffrey Buttle retired a month ago I was a little bit sad too. I imagined how it will be when Stéphane Lambiel announces his retirement. That moment I feared since I began to follow his wonderful career. Happy that we have still or at least one and a half year to enjoy Stéphane Lambiels competitions, I was waiting impatiently for the new season. Then there were the news about his injury. There were rumors before but nothing was confirmed. So he will probably miss the two Grand Prix’s. Then there was a more positive message on his offical website from 16. September 2008 and I was hoping again to see him in Paris. But then the las week came and things started happening very fast. So his main reason to retire was his injury. His decision is understandable. But probably it was not the only reason? There was one very interesting article in the NZZ, which was looking from a different angle to the whole situation. When I was reading it, it made sense to me even tough there is no evidence if it is the truth or a little bit truth. The article said according to Salome Brunner, like the news from 16. September on the offical website, that his injury is getting better and that he can train normal again. Apparently not everything in Wayne was good and according to Peter Grütter, Wayne was probably a “Flop” for Stéphane Lambiel. It’s a pity if it was like this because everything seemed to work fine for everybody. Like so often I would like to know more about all these things but it’s simply not my business. Maybe we will know more about it at some point but for the moment I just wish that Stéphane will be healthy again and be happy with his new life. There is still the possibility to return in a year and if the NZZ article is a little bit truth, I still have the hope to see him return for the Olympic season.

Thank you Stéphane for everything we have seen so far!

News

What is Stéphane Lambiel going to announce on Thursday Morning at an extraordinary press conference? Swiss media talks about his retirement and this was my first thought too, when I read about the press conference. But then I thought it can’t be that bad, he probably announces that he won’t do the Grand Prix. Which was not very surprising at all. But in the afternoon he has been replaced by other skaters in Skate Canada and at Trophee Eric Bompard. I became more worried about the whole situation and the different articles from swiss newspapers didn’t reassure me either. So does he need an extraordinary press conference just to tell that he doesn’t do the Grand Prix? I don’t think so. So what could be so important? Another coach-change? But last time he didn’t make an extraordinary press conference for this. Not competing this season? But is an extraordinary press conference not a bit too much for this? So the only logical reason for this is – RETIREMENT. I can tell myself: No, that can’t be he is too young, it must have another reason… I wish it would be something else, but I don’t believe it.

It makes me sooo sad to think that maybe Göteborg was his last competition. Almost in every interview he mentioned that he will continue until Vancouver 2010, if he stays healthy. Now he has been injured since March 2008 and according to the latest news he still feels the pain. Why now? Now that he seemed to be motivated again, changed his coach and moved to a new country? Why can’t he be healthy now?

But I’m complaining about anything I don’t know for sure at this moment. So I’m stopping now and wait until Thursday. Until we know more.

Remember 24. September 1993

Yesterday 15 years ago Brig-Glis was flooded and destroyed by the Saltina-River. I think most of the inhabitants remember exactly what they did on this black Friday in 1993.

I was 9 years old and in primary school. School finished around three o’clock on Friday afternoon, which was one hour earlier than the other days. A classmate came to my home after school. My mother was baking something like muffins. It had been raining for days and the radio was on, which was rather unusual. The channel was rro, our local radio station. Apparently they reported the whole afternoon about the Vispa-River in our neighbour village Visp. Then suddenly there had been news about the Saltina in Brig-Glis too. About four o’clock they reported that the Saltina was flooding the City. Happily our house is above Saltina-level, so we were safe.  Shortly after my classmate’s mom was calling because their house was already sourrounded by water. So she had to go home quickly. Today, when I think about how naive it was to send her home in this dangerous situation. But nobody could imagine how bad and dangerous it was. But she came home safely, thank God! 

A few minutes later my father came home from work. He was working in a building next to the Saltina. So he could observe the river the whole day, and decided to drive home, when he saw all the water running down the streets. He was probably one of the last persons who drove home through these streets. He saw all the students going home through the rapidly rising water.

Later we were listening to the radio. We couldn’t imagine how the city must look like. It was scary. I think we could watch the news on TV before the power went out. So we saw the first pictures from above out of a helicopter. We were shocked. Nobody could tell at this point of time how many people died. The water and mud filled in all ground floors up to the ceiling in the city center. From our balcony we could see a big dirty lake in Gamsen, not that far away.

So we spend the evening in the dark, with candles and our radio. Not far from us there was also a fire in a furniture shop. So the firefighters had not only to fight against the water. The radio was for many people like an anchor. It was the only source to get in touch with family members, who escaped the sudden flood and were staying with strangers. Mobile phones almost didn’t exist in this time, so it wasn’t that easy to find out where your family members were. We went to bed at three o’clock in the morning.

The next morning my mother told us, that the flood was very bad and that Brig was destroyed. Ma father had to go to the civil defense and help people. He couldn’t believe his eyes what he saw. He was walking on the debris and mud on first-floor-level. They rescued people from the department store “Migros”, who had to spend the night there in the first floor. In one part of the city, ist was only possible to move with a boat. So they brought food and water by boat to those people.

To see the destruction with our own eyes, we walked as near to the Saltina as it was possible. I will never forget what it looked like: There was a excavator metres above us on a causeway of debris, trying to keep the water inside the river. They fought all night and even risked their lifes to build a causway on both sides of the river, so that the water stops flowing through the streets of our beautiful city, which would be changed forever. Unfortunately two woman died in a shoe shop, as they tried to save the shoes until they had no more chance to escape. 

The following weeks wer not easy for everybody. We got a week off in school. You could enter the city center only with a permission of the police. They worked day and night to get all the mud and debris out of the streets, the shops and the restaurants. The air was filled with dust for months and there was a strange smell. We had to buy our food in the neighbour village, as almost all our store’s were destroyed. The same with the restaurants. Later when it was allowed to enter the city center, I went there with my grandparents. It was still dirty and every store was just a black hole. We stood before the “Migros” and could see, how people with gas masks were carrying bad food out of the building.

A few facts:

- about 250 000 m3 mud had to be removed out of the city, the maximum was 20 000 m3 per day with about 40 excavators and track loaders and 100 other vehicles.

- the Saltina transported about 2 000 m3 wood into the city

- 800 cars were destroyed

- 6 000 out of 12 000 phone lines were cut

It’s a pity that there is almost nothing on the web about the flood, as the internet was in it’s infancy. We have video tapes and old newspaper at home.

A video I found lately from TSR (French)

Article from the Rhone Zeitung (German)
Interview with the mayor of Brig-Glis (German)

Walliser Bote of 25.09.2008 I
Walliser Bote of 25.09.2008 II

Please remember that my mothertounge is not English, so there are probably strange sentences or other mistakes.

World Figure Skating Championships 2008 Göteborg Part VI

Maybe I will finish my report about Worlds before the new season starts? I don’t know. Here is my report about Friday with Men’s Short and Ice Dance’s Free Dance.

I got up and was having breakfast. Just on time I was in the Scandinavium for the beginning of Men’s Short Program at 10.00 am. During the next hours more and more people were coming. The first part was not very exciting. I began to talk with my seat neighbours on the right side (on the left side was the stair). They were German’s and the one right next to me was a fan of Brian Joubert and the other was like me a fan of Stéphane Lambiel. They met at Euros in Zagreb and came together to Göteborg. I think I would argue all the time, if my roommate would be Brian Joubert fan… If one of you two seat neighbour’s should read this: it was fun sitting next to you! Maybe we will see us again at TEB in Paris or at Euros in Helsinki.

The second part of Men’s Short Program was far more exciting than the first one. The audience went crazy during warm-up of group 5 with the two Swedish Adrian Schultheiss and Kristoffer Berntsson in it. It was fun. When a skater struggled the audience began to clap supportive. Next to me, just across the aisle were Stéphane Lambiel’s Sister and her boyfriend (I think) sitting. Around 04.30 pm the second last group was warming-up – one of them Stéphane Lambiel. His sister was shouting “Allez, allez!” I was filming the whole warm-up with my digicam. Alban Préaubert should have been in the same starting group. But unfortunately he had to withdraw due to injury. He was sitting a few rows behind me. It was so sad to see him hobble around.

Stéphane Lambiel warm-up before Short Program                                               © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel warm-up before Short Program                                                © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel warm-up before Short Program                                                © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel was the fourth of his group. I was nervous. His “Carne Cruda” was good, but with mistakes. On his opening triple axel he had his hands on the ice and almost fell. Would it count as a triple? Was it worth to risk the triple axel with this mistake? Also on his quad toe he touched the ice with one hand but added a triple toe. The triple lutz was perfect, like his spins and step sequences. At the end he smiled. He seemed to be  happy with his performance. The judges placed him with 79.12 points just behind Tomas Verner with 79.87 points. He looked a bit puzzled at those scores. According to what he did, the points should have been higher. But his jumps weren’t clean.

Stéphane Lambiel before his Short Program                                                          © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel before his Short Program                                                          © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel after his Short Program                                                             © goldguegi 2008

Stéphane Lambiel after his Short Program                                                             © goldguegi 2008

Right after Stéphane Lambiel it was Johnny Weir’s turn. He skated his best Short Program ever and placed with 80.79 points first for the moment. Jeffrey Buttle was perfect too and placed first all over. Not Daisuke Takahashi or Brian Joubert could beat him. Daisuke Takahashi placed third with 80.40 points and Brian Joubert fell on his triple lutz and placed sixth with 77.75 points. So after the Short Program Stéphane was in fifth place, but with only 2.98 points behind Jeffrey Buttle. Everything was open between the first six skaters. And the Free Skate the next day was going to be very interesting and nerve-racking.

About half an hour after Stéphane Lambiels Short Program Salome Brunner came up the stair beside me to Stéphane’s sister. She seemed very excited about something. All I could catch up was something with “triple”. A few hours later, when we finally found out, that his triple axel was counted as a triple but ironically his triple toe after the quad toe was downgraded to a double, Salome Brunner’s excitement made sense to me. And when I read in the Internet at the hotel room in the evening, that Stéphane was very angry about the judges deciscion, to downgrade his triple, I understand, that this is not just a simple decision – for Stéphane Lambiel it was unfair. He never ever complained about a judges decision like this. On the Eurosport interview after his program, he looks sad, angry and is searching for words, even tough the interview was in French. I have never seen him like this.

After the Men’s Short Program there was a break. Logically there were many people waiting for the men to return to the hotel. We were standing there too. And for the first time this week I saw Stéphane Lambiel with his crew and his constant companion – the little silver suitcase with his skates in it, which is almost all the time drawn by Majda Scharl. He didn’t stop at all, even if there were people screaming his name. He was just smiling and walking very fast.

Next was the Ice Dance Free Dance. As I’m not so interested in this discipline I cannot write much about it. I enjoyed it and was happy for Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder that they finally won. The medal ceremony was as beautiful as the two before. After a long and eventful day I finally went back to my hotel room.

Results World Championships 2008

Bsuech in…

Last Monday Swiss German TV (SF1) was broadcasting live from Brig-Glis. They are doing a tour through the German speaking part of Valais, the “Oberwallis”. Every Monday they are in another village or city and last Monday they were in my city.

The broadcast was from the courtyard of the Stockalpercastle. It’s a very old building built between 1658 – 1678 by Kaspar Stockalper vom Thurm (1609 – 1691). In my eyes it is a beautiful and special castle. Not like many others in Switzerland. And it’s courtyard and garden are just breathtaking.

I have the privilege to work in this beautiful old castle and could follow the whole set up and rehearsal for the live broadcast from the windows of my office. It was interesting to see how much effort they put in it for one hour. It’s so much different than watching the broadcast in TV.

During the afternoon we could see and hear Stefanie Heinzmann singing “Like a bullet” for at least three times accompanied only by her brother who played guitar. She is from my neighbour village and had won a casting show in Germany last January.

You can watch the whole broadcast here: SF Bsuech in Brig (click on the first picture)

View out of the office                                                                                                 © goldguegi 2008

From above                                                                                                                © goldguegi 2008

More information

Pictures from the Stockalpercastle